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From Tin Man - To Steelman......

Published:

Written by Robert Hudson

The First Triathlete from our new BATs Training Group to come of Age.

 

As most of us regulars will know and under stand that there are different distances for Triathlon and they look like this...

Pool Based sprint...400m-20K-5K

Open water sprint..750m-20K-5K

Standard distance..1500m-40K-10K

Steelman..(miles)....1.2m-56m-13.1m

Ironman..(miles).....2.4m-112m-26.2m

 

For most of us who like the challenge of training and competing in Triathlon the sprint is the most common distance found as a Event that we can all train for and Achieve the goal of crossing the finish line.... And in the Triathlete circle nick names are give to us as we go along our path, and for those of us who just cringe at the thought of going though 16 hours plus of blood sweat and tears of what it takes to become an Ironman , we are quite happy to be called Tinmen with in our sprinting world....

 

But this wasn't so for one of our Members.....

Stephen Cox took it upon him self to Train Hard and long and go STEELMAN......

 

Stephen really did have to turn up the heat on the training with these distances that were about to become his new friends...... Those hour long sessions in the pool just doing 800/1200m sets would no longer cut it, nope 2K is Stephens new pool friend, and have to take the Bike up and beyond the 60mile marker to get those legs used to the extra saddle time needed to cover these distances and still leave something left in the tank to run a further 13 miles.....wow this was going to take some doing...

 

Right from the start of the year, Stephen had a well laid out training plan and this is key with going Steelman distance, Monday night was Run night, Tuesday was Pilates class with a rest night on Wednesday the Swim on Thursday night, rest on Friday and the Club Training on Saturday morning, this was making this almost a full time job in it's self....

And more towards the last month of training Running each morning before work became the norm....wow.....

 

So Cleveland Steelman was the Event (19/07/14) with two laps of the Lake then of out from T1 and on to the Local roads for a Two lap Bike section and back to T2 for a two lap Run.....

Stephens Times for the Swim will show you that being a Triathlete with in a strong Swimming group has paid off..... Stephen covered his swim in 37:20 well done a truly great time, T1 was done in 5:02 not bad for a wetsuit removal , then on with the Tuff stuff the bike section, wow this would take 3:22.02 it's when your a Tinman and you see a bike time that is this long you start to under stand why the Finishers of these distance get called STEELMAN ....... So back in for T2 and out in 2:12 ....what's left in those legs I don't know, but after working hard for over 4 hours non stop this run is going to be a tuff one...

Well Stephen covered his run in 2:38.30 phew....

This gives Stephen a race time of 6:45.08 and Also Gives Mr Cox the bragging wrights of Becoming BATs First STEELMAN......

 

Stephen will tell you more about this race in details, as it was a hard fort after finish, which had a few mishaps with nutrition in T2 and almost costing him his race, but great work by his wife to spot the mistake early and give Stephen some gels to help get though that run and over the finish line...

These Big Distances are not to be taken lightly and it was just pure Strength and true grit that got Stephen over the finish line....

 

I have trained along side Stephen for almost a year , and he shows great promise in becoming one of our own Great Triathletes , he is a Gentleman and a true friend and it has been an Honour to have you as a Close friend and my Pilates Class buddy....lol.

 

I am not going to thank you for setting the Distance Bar so High this early in our Triathlete journey...

Enjoy your Steelman Status.... May be next season I will join you.

Hats of to you Mr Cox You did it.....

 

Yours Bob.

 

 

 

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